Emma D'Arcy and Matt Smith in 'House of the Dragon,' which takes place 200 years before 'Game of Thrones.' In the photo, both actors are staring at one another and there's sand behind them.

‘House of the Dragon’: George R.R. Martin Was Adamant About Telling This Particular Story

George R.R. Martin has been wanting to tell the downfall of the Targaryens for some time, In fact, he was adamant about telling this particular story.

by Aramide Tinubu

Published on August 23, 2022

2 min read

‘House of the Dragon’ takes place 172 years before Daenerys Targaryen’s birth

At the beginning of Game of Thrones, Ned Stark is called to King’s Landing to become the Hand of the King for Robert Baratheon. Robert was the king to follow Aerys II Targaryen, aka The Mad King, who was also Daenerys Targaryen’s father. By the time the Mother of Dragons was born, the Targaryens were near extinction and had no dragons.

House of the Dragon is a GoT prequel and takes place 172 before the Mad King’s death. When the series opens, the Targayrens are at the height of their power.

However, what they don’t know is that it’s set to go downhill from here.

George R. R. Martin was adamant about telling this particular story

House of the Dragon was co-created by Ryan J. Condal and George R.R. Martin. It is based on Fire & Blood, which chronicles the Targaryen dynasty. The dragon riders ruled Westeros for 300 years, and House of the Dragon opens around their 100th year in power. It was a story Martin had been desperate to see come to life.

“George [R.R. Martin] sees this particular story as the most important event in the Targaryen history, outside of the conquest,” Condal told Shadow and Act. “The conquest wins them the power that then this story precipitates them beginning to lose. Before even Fire & Blood [George] had written quite a bit about this period. The Princess and the Queen was about Rhaenyra and Alicent (Emily Carey and Olivia Cooke, at different points in time) as adults. The Rogue Prince is about Daemon when Rhaenyra was more of a child that adapted into this book’s chapters. But this has always been on his mind as having the most thematic and spiritual resonance with the original series. So when I sat down with him, the very first meeting we ever had, this was the chapter that he slid across the table to me and said, ‘This is the one I want to tell.’”

‘House of the Dragon’ will chronicle the Targaryen civil war

So far in the series, the kingdom is stable. However, Viserys’ choice will lead to the Dance of the Dragons or the Targaryen Civil War when Rhaenyra will fight for the throne with Aegon II, her younger half-brother.

We won’t get into too many spoilers, but things get much more twisted and complicated.